Posted this in one of my e-groups. Hope it gets to help all 1st-birthday-planning-moms out there.

We celebrated our daughter’s first birthday party last Sunday, March12 at the Pavilion of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. The party’s theme was “flowers and butterflies” since by the time I was preparing for the party, Sophia didn’t favor any cartoon character pa. But actually, I think even if she did show any fondness on a certain cartoon character, I still would have chosen “flowers and butterflies” as theme since like ko yon talaga, dati pa;) Andbecause I’m the mom, walang pwedeng kumontra diba? Hehe

Sophia was a bit cranky during the first part of the party. Inaantok kase and she eventually slept while the guests were eating. But for some reason, she didn’t want us to fix her hair. As in umiiyak, she’s not like that naman, Oh well. Hinayaan na lang namin, ang gulo ng hair! And for some reason also, ayaw humiwalay sa kin! She didn’t want to walk dahil di sanay sa shoes niya so most of the time karga ko siya. We didn’t get to change her dress narin, sayang. We were so busy kase entertaining the guests and atthe same time getting entertained by the party itself. But otherthan that, we couldn’t complain or ask for anything more. We were happy with the party. Sophia was so happy to see lots and lots of balloons and kids. She wouldn’t let go of one balloon and we just tied it sa arm nya. The whole time yun nakatali yung balloon sa arm niya.

Like I said, we were so happy with the outcome of the party. As in! It was a blast-that according to our guests and suppliers alike.Overwhelming ang mga comments. Everybody was commenting on how nice the venue decor was. Thanks to jelly bellies, they made the pavilion look really really fantastic! Party atmosphere talaga.There were tons and tons of balloons, literally. The hanging 26inch butterfly balloons were fantastic, pinag-agawan sobra ng mga guests. Kaya lang a couple of kids were crying kase wala silang nakuha, wawa naman. Ayaw daw nila yung plain balloon lang hehe.Even the flower balloons naetsepwera because the mylar butterflyballoons were really so nice and attractive. Jon and I really loved how the venue looked. When we arrived nga he said, ” Kaya pala mahal e.” ;p

VS&F’s set-up was also nice. We had chivalry chairs for both adults and kids. The adult chairs had ribbons pa. The combination of fuchsia pink and canary yellow on the chair ribbons and table tops also looked really nice. I was hesistant at first to use those sa chairs and table tops since feeling ko they might look too bright but Angelet of JB and MArcicel of VS&F assured me na okay daw so go nako. And they were right buti nalng at nakinig ako:) The food was also so sarap according to the guests and my super takaw hubby:) Hewas eating kase right before the party started, and he said masarap daw. Its all his fave food kase, siyempre pasipsip ako sa financier:) We had lengua with lemon butter sauce, BBQ spareribs with hickory sauce, chicken teriyaki, lapu-lapu fish fillet with tartar sauce, buttered vegetables with sweetcorn, fettuccini with carbonara and marinara sauce plus the soup, appetizers and bucopandan and assorted cakes and pastries for dessert. Busog talaga! The kids had a separate buffet also by VS&F. They had spaghetti, fried chicken, mini sandwiches, hotdogs and orange juice-food kidslove diba? I also got my chocolate fountain from VS&F and as always,hit na hit ito. I myself got to enjoy it before we went home. Yummy!

I sourced most (actually all except for the prizes-which I got from divi) of the party stuff from Jelly Bellies. We had Wanlu as host-magician. He was really good. Super sulit. Everybody loved him.Got the bubble show the kids and Sophia loved from them also.Mahilig kase sa bubbles tong anak ko. Booked picture card/bagtag onsite printing, inflatable slide-another fave of the kids (may mga moms pa nga na nagslide e!), happy carts ( ice cream with toppings and cotton candy) and specialty carts (potato corner and buy the bucket) from them too. Even the cake which was a highlight also, I got na rin from them. Ordered the backpacks and kiddie couches din from them para one design lang. They based the design from the big pop-up invites I had made from Adworks. When I was giving out theinvites excited na mga guest coz ganda daw definitely the party will be as nice daw, so I had to sustain it hehehe. Balloon burst also sa kanila so dami ko kinuha from them, a bit expensive, but hey I’m a very satisfied client:) Angelet was also there to assist and left na when everything was settled already but there was Cathy the party manager who stayed the whole time.

The party’s face painter was our co-n@wie, Bjay who was great! Kidsloved having their face painted. Galing galing.

Sophia’s backdrop tarp (8×12 feet) and welcome banner (5x2feet) was designed by our co-n@wie, Melisse. Got a 16×20 photo mosaic from her too. Tapos the printing was made by Jhuly, who I got to knowfrom Rubai’s post before.

The party’s photog was John Aguas who I think had done a lot of birthday parties with n@wies. Very nice man, quiet lang. Booked him through text nga lang e. I got him for the video also but I can’t comment on it yet since after a month ko pa daw makukuha.

It was really a nice feeling to see family and friends coming overto share in the special celebration of our daughter’s birthday.Super happy kami as we see them having fun and enjoying the party.That was more than enough to ease the pagod and the gastos, well, almost:) Yan ang sabi ng husband ko and it really made me happy. I felt great kase during the planning whenever I say na “this is how much for this, for that etc…” , nagugulat and medyo nagrereklamo.But after the party sabi niya sulit daw kahit expensive kase he saw na everybody enjoyed talaga. After the party kase guests came to either him or me saying na the party was fantastic, great, awesome and they really enjoyed it. So happy talaga kami coz that’s what we really wanted, for everybody to enjoy the party and everybody goes home happy.

Up until now people are texting me how nice the party was and super paulit ulit daw ang kwento ng mga kids regardingthe party. Sarap ng feeling.

Four days after the party, our house is now a factory of toys and baby clothes. All sorts, all kinds, name it, we have it haha! So I guess the fun doesn’t end at the party hehe. Matagal tagal pang lalaruin ni Sophia mga toys she got. Super dami! Tipid si mommy!

Here’s the list and contact numbers of my suppliers:

Party Organizer: Jelly Bellies (through Angelet-6386164) –>kilalang kilala ako nito sa kakulitan ko. I’m the funniest and most kulit client daw niya ever.

Caterer: VS&F (c/o Maricel-9371037) or they have dolly at Wack Wack all the time pero mas gusto ko kausap si Maricel at si Mrs. Abesamis(the owner) na super bait.

Venue: Pavilion B of Wack WAck Golf and Country Club (7230665) –>super accomodating at mabait all the staff.

Tarp design and Photo mosaic: Melisse (8245031) –>n@wie kaya sanay na sa kakulitan natin hehe

Tarp printing: Jhuly (2911604) –> super bait din. she even sent me a printed part of the backdrop tarp via air 21 for approval muna before printing at no additional cost.

Facepainter: Bjay (09178012794) –>n@wie din na super nice wala ko masabi. i was asking her to eat muna sabi niya wawa naman daw pag may kid na lumapit sa booth at wala siya, o diba?

Photo and Video: John Aguas (09209537827). Okay naman kaya lang wala siyang close up nung mga hanging butterflies from the ceiling.other than that, no reklamo.

Invites: Adworks (6880085). As always maganda coz magaling talaga sila. Mai was so nice pa to give me free nametags since medyo madami naman daw akong invites na inorder.

Prizes: Divi. Went there once lang. Our second trip was sa juan luna na lang.

So there, I think I covered everything na but if you still need to know anything just post.

You can view the pics at http://community.webshots.com/user/sophiaturns1